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Albert Lee - Albert Lee (Knucklebaby 24-96 Needledrop) (1982)

Track listing:
  1. Side One 16:37
  2. Side Two 16:49

Notes


Polydor Records PD-1-6358
Standard Release


Side One

Sweet Little Lisa
Pink Bedroom
On The Boulevard
The Best I Can
Rock 'N' Roll Man

Side Two

Real Wild Child (Wild One)
Radio Girl
Your Boys
So Sad (To Watch Good Love Go Bad)
One Way Rider

Albert Lee - Guitars
Drums - Larry Londin
Bass- Emory Gordy
Rhythm Guitar - Vince Gill
Keyboards - John Hobbs, except for Bill Payne*
Piano (So Sad) - Albert Lee
Trumpet - Lon Price
Baritone Sax - Greg Smith
Background Vocals - Barbara Bennet, Lynn Hartman, Vince Gill, and Albert Lee

Though no one questions Albert Lee's superb guitar skills, he was a far less spectacular singer and frontman on his second solo album. It was devoted mostly to covers of songs by Rodney Crowell (who also produced), John Hiatt, and Hank Devito, with a couple of oldies thrown in (the rendition of the Everly Brothers' ("So Sad (To Watch Good Love Go Bad)," sadly, is sluggish to the point of desultory), and just one Lee original, "Your Boys." Reliance on outside material isn't a problem when you're a good interpreter and you acquire access to good new songs. But nothing really sparkles here other than the guitar playing, and even that's less frequent than Lee fans might like. So you get middling songs like "Rock'n'Roll Man" and Rodney Crowell's "One Way Rider" where the guitar soloing far outshines any other aspect of the track. It ends up being a somewhat below-average rootsy rock album, with a pre-stardom Vince Gill on rhythm guitar and backup vocals. Raven Records combined Albert Lee with his 1979 debut album, Hiding, on a single-disc CD reissue, which added Patty Loveless' "Blue Side of Town" (on which Lee plays guitar) as a bonus cut.